Monday, October 24, 2011

They say you can't choose your family, the only choice you have is whether to love them, so choose love! Good advice that I tried to keep in mind as I spent a few days with my Mom, Dad and 3 siblings. It's amazing how little the childhood dynamics and interactions changed over 50 plus years. We still relate in much the same ways although our vocabulary has improved somewhat....we don't use words like "poopie head" anymore......well.....rarely.....

Even the occasional dramatic outbreaks were out weighed by laughs, of which there were plenty. Maybe it's cuz we're genetically wired to find the same things amusing, or being a captive audience for hours in the car, or no TV at night; but in between arguing about politics & religion, or who gets to take the next picture and who's sick of picture taking; we sang along with Harry Belafonte, made endless jokes at the expense of some poor schmuck with the unfortunate name of "Kowsheet", and bickered over who snores more....

It's been almost 3 decades since just the original 6 of us were together but last weekend we all managed to be in the same place at the same time. Liz flew in from S. Dakota and Thursday we drove to Georges place in DC with Mom and Dad in tow. Friday Irene drove up and met us in Gettysburg. Next day we strolled the boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach and had dinner in historic Annapolis. Sunday we spent a lovely afternoon hiking Great Falls State Park and Monday we headed south for a quick visit to niece Becca at William & Mary College before heading home.

All in all a lovely road trip and may I just say if I had a choice, this is exactly the family I would choose! :-)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

....we were thinner, had more hair, and there were a lot more of us! But that did not keep the 1981 KSU School of Architecture grads attending the reunion from enjoying the evening. We were a group of almost 80 that spent 5 years together in the design studio of Taylor Hall. For some reason the profs thought it profitable for our education to give us massively ambitious projects to complete in ridiculously limited amounts of time. Spending days and nights on end together in the studio led to the kind of bonding and camaraderie I imagine goes on in the trenches. And you can imagine the hyjinks that went on at 3 AM when a group fueled by caffeine and the occasional illegal substance needed stress relief.....

But the friendships that were forged during that time endure and become particularly precious as several of our best and brightest were taken from us far too young. Gone but not forgotten; Mario Gumushdian, Dave Dickinson and most recently, Anthony Notaro.